Activists are up in arms against the proposal. Anjali Bhardwaj of Satark Nagrik Sangathan said: “It’s an attempt at weakening the institution of CIC and lowering its status.
Highlights
The change in status is not expected to dilute the powers and autonomy of the institution created under the RTI Act
But the move has attracted criticism that the stature of the Central Information Commission is being pared through administrative action
NEW DELHI: The government is considering downgrading the status of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners in terms of salaries and allowances from being equivalent to a Supreme Court judge to a secretary in the government of India.
The change in status is not expected to dilute the powers and autonomy of the institution created under the Right to Information Act enacted by the UPA government in 2005, TOI has learned. But the move has attracted criticism that the stature of the Central Information Commission is being pared through administrative action.
The terms and conditions of service of the CIC, ICs and state information commissioners, as per provisions of the Act, are the same as that of the chief election commissioner and ECs, who in turn draw salaries and allowances payable to an SC judge.
Activists are up in arms against the proposal. Anjali Bhardwaj of Satark Nagrik Sangathan said: “It’s an attempt at weakening the institution of CIC and lowering its status. The reason why CIC was given the privilege of being on a par with the EC was to allow it to function independently.”
The view in the government is that putting the CIC and information commissioners on a par with EC functionaries may not be justified as, unlike the constitutional body empowered by Article 324 of the Constitution, the CIC is only a statutory body handling requests and appeals of citizens for information under the control of public authorities.
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“The RTI Act provision linking the salary of the CIC and information commissioners to that of the CEC and ECs, respectively, it seems, was drafted in a hurry and without much application of mind. It is time that we correct this anomaly,” a government functionary told TOI.
The functionary pointed out that the state information csommissioner, in many cases, was an ex-bureaucrat who retired at the level of additional secretary. “He may not have made the cut as secretary while in service but on appointment as state information commissioner, he gets elevated to the level of a Supreme Court judge. This is an anomalous situation,” said the functionary.
A senior CIC official, however, claimed bodies dealing with constitutional issues need to be seen as constitutional bodies. “The CIC deals with issues related to the fundamental rights. That makes it a constitutional body,” the official said.
